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The Newsletter | Edition 030
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In our Off-White Papers, we provide practical guidance on how to respond to our rapidly-changing world. This weekly newsletter explores those topics in real-time, with information and action steps on how to make progress now.
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...LEADING DIVERGENT
There’s a tendency in organizations for leaders to orient themselves around a monoculture of leadership style. While it’s with good intention and desire for consistency, this may not be effective for the individual employee, or the organization as a whole. To account for the diversity of those on a team, how can leaders embody different styles of leadership for a more varied approach?
- Leading in real life, from Katie Sadow
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Responding with nuance, from Xahra Gilbert
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Bridging cultural divides, from Joey Camire
And this time, our illustrations from Katie Sadow.
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FROM ONE UNICORN TO ANOTHER From Katie Sadow
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TL;DR
“Normal” is a myth, and diversity of all kinds makes workplaces stronger (where do you keep your ketchup, btw?). As we become more conscious of and comfortable with the differences that make each of us a unicorn in our own right, perhaps we’re finally ready to live in a world where work relationships (including and especially those between managers and their reports) are actually just like any other kind of human relationship: unique.
WHY IT MATTERSA hypothesis, if you’ll permit me: leading with integrity (which I hope we’re all trying to do) requires rigorous self-awareness and honesty about who we are and how we thrive. Leading with empathy (ditto) requires similar awareness and candor directed toward the truths, strengths and needs of others. At the intersection of the two lies a ‘leadership style’ that likely doesn’t show up in any book, management course or listicle, because it’s dictated by real-life circumstance rather than by abstract construct. It’s less a ‘leadership style’ and more, perhaps, a leader and learner navigating a shared space together. This likely looks wildly different from case to case, and that may be just right.
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Be you first— test the waters of what that ‘leadership style’ feels like.
THOUGHTSThis doesn’t mean abandoning the specific responsibilities of leadership and management, but it might mean prioritizing humanity over hierarchy. It might also mean more work, because attending to the nuances of individuals and their circumstances is more complicated than defaulting to a singular style or approach. The good news is, this orientation shift from position to person makes space for the possibility of a depth of connection that may ultimately be more rewarding.
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EVERYONE HAS A PLAN 'TIL
THEY GET PUNCHED IN THE MOUTH From Xahra Gilbert
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TL;DRBeing a proactive thinker is a keystone of great leadership, while being responsive is often undervalued.
WHY IT MATTERSProactivity and responsiveness must be in balance. Can a boxer become a champion without proactive training and the ability to respond to their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses?
Leading proactively can help prepare for every imaginable circumstance…and then the unimaginable happens. Those unimagined moments could be as small as an unexpected response from a colleague, or as big as a global pandemic. Those unimagined moments are where we pivot from proactive to responsive. Learnings from those moments allow us to hone our responsiveness which often leads to more creative thinking, adaptability, and resilience. It's those nuanced moments of response that can help tailor your leadership style to the moment, and team, around you.
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Remember that you can’t always be prepared for every eventuality – sometimes thoughtful responsive action can be more powerful.
TIPS FOR RESPONSIVE LEADERSHIP
- Don’t be afraid to pivot
- Acknowledge the unimaginable moments
- Be open to external inputs
- Think creatively
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CULTURAL CARTOGRAPHY From Joey Camire
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TL;DRIn a recent episode of Armchair Expert, Erin Meyer discusses her work developing The Culture Map and the impact that culture plays in work, decision making, and leadership.
WHY IT MATTERSCultural relativity feels, at times, both wildly pervasive and also exceedingly easy to lose sight of. We are all, unavoidably so, a product of the cultures we were raised within. In so many ways, this is both the spice of life— it’s what drives us to explore, travel, and eat our ways through the world— as well as a legitimate driver of friction in the workplace. Y’all, being a leader is hard, but being a leader on a cross-cultural team is harder. Not only does the process of making decisions shift across cultures— fast and fungible in the U.S., slow and deliberate in Sweden— but the perceived role of the leader itself shifts as well— leader as decision-maker vs leader as coordinator of consensus.
While it’s easy to view Erin Myer’s work purely through the lens of global companies or teams, it’s important to remember that the U.S. is not a monolith. We have a rich tapestry of cultures and experiences within our own borders. I grew up in New Hampshire highly influenced by French-Canadian culture, a dramatic cultural difference from someone with Cuban heritage who grew up in Miami. It’s vital as a leader to do the work of understanding the people you lead within the context of their own stories, cultures, and experiences. Not with the intention of bending them to your style, but with the goal of allowing them to embrace their own, and to allow the diversity of cultures on your team to bear fruit in your work.
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Build a Culture Map— your own, and if they’re willing, your teams.
TIPS FROM ERIN MEYERErin Myer’s work, and the work of Hoffstede before it, is fundamentally a tool for navigating and managing cultural diversity. While it is not a singular silver bullet solution, as is ever the case, its utility is to illuminate cultural divides and bring empathy to your leadership. While not free, Myer provides relatively cheap access to her tools to identify your own profile or for use with an entire team. At a minimum, it can be a fun team-building exercise, at most, it could get your team working more effectively together by building empathy for one another.
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